Recoilless gun



March 23,1948 POPE RECOILLES S GUN Filed April 5,.1944

, INVENTOR. WLnsZow 5,1 0,062

.HTTOENEY Patented Mar. 23, 1948 UNITED STATES a PATENT OFFICE RECOILLESS GUN Winslow B. Pope, Detroit, Mich., assignor, by mesne assignments, to United States of America Application April 5, 1944, Serial No. 529,577

1 Qlaim. 1

This invention relates to guns, cannon and the like, more particularly to guns of the so-called recoilless type.

Recoilless type guns and the like have been proposed heretofore which contemplated the use of a Venturi arrangement at the rearward end of the gun barrel and a series of vanes within the Venturi passage for resisting rotation of the barrel during firing of the projectile therefrom.

The object of the present invention is to provide such a gun with an improved vane arrangement of simplified construction which can be economically manufactured and assembled to the supporting structure.

With the above and other objects in view, which will be apparent from the following dcscription to those skilled in the art to which the invention appertains, the present invention consists of certain features of construction and combinations of parts to be hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawing, and then claimed.

In the drawing which illustrates a suitable embodiment of the invention:

Figure 1 is a rear end view of the gun having the vane arrangement of the present invention assembled thereto, and

Figure 2 is a longitudinal section taken substantially on line 22 of Figure 1.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, the gun mechanism includes an elongated casing 5 externally threaded to the rearward end of the gun barrel 6, the inner periphery of the casing being contoured to provide an axiallyopening Venturi passage 7 having a restriction or throat 8.

Arranged within the casing 5 is a spider 9 having the ends of its legs l abutting the internal wall of the casing in advance of the throat 8 and rigidly secured thereto by c'ap screws I I extending through the casing wall.

The hub of the spider 9 is provided with an axial passage l2 which is counterbored at its forward end and internally threaded to threadably receive an elongated tube l3 located within the pressure chamber 5a in advance of the throat 8. The tube [3 supports the charge l4, the charge being in the form of a plurality of wafers of suitable combustible material. The wafers are provided with central openings and are slipped over the tube I 3 through the muzzle of the gun, the tube l3 being closed at its forward end by a rounded button l5 which facilitates the positioning of the wafers on the tube l3.

In order to provide a backing support for the powder charge, the hub and legs of the spider is recessed at I6 to receive an annular plate I! which is secured to the legs 10 by screws Hi. It is to be noted that the opening I!) through the tube I3 is provided with cross passages 20 and is aligned with the hub passage 12.

In accordance with the present invention, a vane arrangement is cast, forged or otherwise formed from a single piece of metal to provide a conical hub element 2| having a series of integral vanes 22 which are disposed at an angle to the axis of the hub element 2|.

.The hub element is formed with an axial passage 23 which is counterbored and internally threaded at its opposite ends. The forward end is threaded to a rearwardly extending axial boss portion 24 of the hub of the spider 9. The threads at this connection are such that the tendency of the gases flowing between the vanes 22 will tend to tighten the hub element 2| on the boss portion 24.

Threaded within the rearward counterbored end of thehub element 2| is a plug 25 having a powderv charge receiving chamber 26 therein, small apertures 21 being provided in the plug 25 in communication with the chamber 26.

In the firing of the mechanism, a powder charge (not shown) within the chamber 26 is electrically ignited by wires (not shown) extending through the passages 21. The flash or flame resulting from ignition of this powder charge flows through the passages 23, I2 and l 9 and thence through the cross passages 20, thereby igniting the combustible charge I 4. As is well known, the pressures developed by the burning of the charge l4 projects the shell (not shown) from the gun barrel 6. By reason of the rifling of the gun barrel 6 there is a marked tendency for the barrel to rotate. The flow of gases through the Venturi passage 8 impinges on the vanes 22. These vanes are disposed at such an angle to the axis of the gun barrel that the gases impinging thereon tend to rotate the structure in opposition to the tendency toward rotation produced by the rifling of the gun barrel. By arranging the vanes 22 at the proper angle, it is thus possible to neutralize the tendency toward rotation produced through the rifling during firing of the shell or other prolectile.

The vane arrangement of the present invention is particularly advantageous in that by forming the same from a single piece of metal, there is only one connection to make, that connection being a threaded one, thus eliminating Welded or bolted connections for the individual vanes with the wall of the Venturi passage or a central post, which are objectionable from the standpoint not only of cost but also of inaccessibility during assembly.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in the detailed construction and arrangement of the parts described without departing from the spirit and substance of the invention, the scope of which is defined by "the appended claim.

What'is claimed is:

In a recoilless gun having a casing provided with a pressure developing chamber and a c0- 4 axial Venturi passage leading from said chamber, a. spider element fixed within said chamber in advance of said passage and having a threaded boss-like portion coaxial with said passage, and a one-piece vaned member having a rigid post coaxial with said passage and a plurality of vanes integral With said post, said vanes extending outwardly from said post and being disposed at an angle relative to the axis of'said post and said post having a threaded connectionwith said bosslike portion.

\ WINSLOW B. POPE. 

